Power Struggles T
by Romantic Nerd
Summary: Updated and Completed: Find out who did it and Jilliam enjoy a sleigh ride, too, as they solve their own power struggles! William and Julia work on a case while they deal with some major power struggles in their relationship. Publishing issues so readers may have missed last chapter. Story now completed. M version also.
1. Chapter 1

Power Struggles

The sounds of a horse being whipped were heard coming from within a stable. A few moments later a blacksmith was seen working on the hind leg of a horse. The horse was winded, sweating, and covered in welts, some of them bleeding. The blacksmith was approached from behind and hit on the head. He fell to the ground, spooking the horse. His limp body was dragged into an empty stall, tied up to the wall with his hands above his head, holding him in standing position. He came to quickly, taking up some of the slack in the ropes as he stood on his own. The murderer, a short, strong man, lifted a red-hot chisel in his right hand up above his head and rammed it diagonally into the blacksmith's left pectoral muscle through the heart.

Julia performed the post mortem on the blacksmith for Stationhouse #5 because their pathologist was away for the Thanksgiving holiday. It was the day before Thanksgiving, and because of this job she would be getting home late. The detective from Stationhouse #5, Jim Dermott, had always behaved inappropriately around Julia, and he was making passes at her now, true to form. Dermott stood too close to Julia and said, "Rumor has it you are in a storybook marriage but I don't believe that is possible with a man like Murdoch."

Julia wanted to threaten him with reporting his bad behavior to his inspector, but she knew that it would likely be used as a reason that women should not be employed as coroners. She held her ground as Detective Dermott stepped in even closer to her, and she lifted her eyes to give him an angry look (he was six feet tall). She consciously forced her voice to hold a low tone and said, "Detective Dermott, step back. I will not tolerate this inappropriate behavior."

Dermott leaned his head down and tilted it a little, as if he was preparing to kiss her, and while holding his lips near hers he replied with a wink, "You can't blame a guy for trying." Then he stepped back.

Julia provided him with the findings of the post mortem – An injury to the head that likely rendered him unconscious for a few moments, a stab wound from left to right through the second intercostal space diagonally down through the heart with a unique weapon (eight inches long and about the thickness of a screwdriver, but flattened). Scalded tissue, suggesting the weapon was extremely hot, and rope burns on his wrists. She added that the stab wound suggested a short killer, while the head wound did not.

Detective Dermott thanked her for her findings and reminded himself that his investigation would have to wait because he was celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow. He wished Julia a nice holiday and left. Julia prepared the body for cold storage and wrote up the report. She figured she wouldn't be getting home until after dinner – even after the children were tucked into bed.

As Julia headed out of the morgue for home it started to snow. It was only early November but a big storm was predicted and she was excited because they had recently bought some sleds for their children. She looked over to William's office window and saw that it was dark. She was glad at least one of them had gotten home at a reasonable hour. Tomorrow both Ruby and William's brother Jasper would be coming over to celebrate the holiday with them. They would be staying in Toronto through the weekend. Although the children knew Aunt Ruby, they had never met their Uncle Jasper. Everybody was greatly looking forward to it.

Julia walked in the door after nine o'clock – the children's bedtime. She could hear them upstairs with William. It seemed that whenever William was in charge, they roughhoused for quite a while before getting tucked in, and tonight did not seem like an exception. Unfortunately, they were usually too wound up from all the energetic play to be sleepy, resulting in their parents having to spend much more time than normal telling bedtime stories, etc. She decided to go into the kitchen and get herself some dinner, leaving William to reap what he sowed.

The first thing she did was pour herself a glass of whiskey. As she felt the warmth from the liquor slide down her throat, she found herself equally warmed down in her belly by the lovely sounds coming from upstairs. She had never heard children happier than theirs were when they were playing games like "Daddy Monster" with William. The only thing they seemed to enjoy more was when both she and William were playing the game with them. She was tempted to join them, but too tired. Suddenly there was a loud thump on the ceiling above her. She waited the predictable three seconds before the injured child's wails would begin. It was definitely the youngest, Chelsea. Julia fought every muscle twitch in her body telling her to go upstairs to care for the child. " _William can handle it,"_ she thought to herself. Sure enough, within a few moments the crying stopped and the pitter-patter of happy little feet started bolting from one room to the other again.

Eloise had left a plate of dinner for her and she started to eat, finding herself to be so hungry she didn't even mind that the food was cold. She continued her eavesdropping. She chuckled to herself when she determined the game they were playing. It seemed to be a new one. William, otherwise known as the "Daddy Monster" would put a child in their own bed, only to have the child run from their bed into some other child's bed. It seemed William's impossible goal was to get each of the children into their own bed rather than someone else's. Finally she heard William using the tone that indicated he was serious telling the children that there was only one more minute left in the game and then all would need to go to their correct bed and stay there. She marveled at how well behaved the children were, doing just that when he demanded it five minutes later. She kicked off her shoes and poured herself another whiskey.

After he got the children asleep, William came down the stairs to join her in the kitchen. He pulled a chair up close to hers and leaned in to whisper in her ear, "Welcome home Mrs. Murdoch." One thing led to another and they ended up making love right there on the kitchen table – a first for them. Fortunately Julia had enough where-with-all to have William get up and turn off the light before they got too involved, minimizing the chance that any neighbors or passers-by would see them through the window. Naked and satiated, they headed up to bed.

The next morning, William awoke already quite aroused, a common occurrence for him. He rolled over to spoon with Julia, planning on softly tempting her to awaken and then make love with him. He breathed in her smell. It stirred his desires even more. William's fingers brushed aside some of her curls to expose the skin under Julia's ear. As he lowered his lips to the spot, Julia stirred, offering him a gentle moan and pushing back into him, skin sliding against skin, to increase the contact between them. His hand explored her supple, warm body. The evidence of William's need pressed firmly against Julia's bottom, enticing her insides to tighten, as if she could create a vacuum and pull him even closer to her. She could hear her own desire, and she knew he could as well, as her breath gasped a little when she inhaled and slowly deepened and burned as she exhaled. Wanting to build the tension between them even higher, she forced herself not to turn over to face him yet.

William slid his hand down to caress her slender waist and up the curve of her hip. Then he reached down to grip her inner thigh. The moan she released nearly drove him wild. Unable to wait any longer, he pulled her thigh towards him, rolling Julia so that he could feel her breath against his neck for what felt like the first time. He tucked her further underneath his larger body and was encouraged by her hot breath which enveloped his shoulder as the sound of her craving echoed into his ear and seemed to swirl his brain.

As William made love to her the rhythm quickened and she knew there was no turning back now. She felt the warm light beginning to burst through her edges. William took her earlobe into his mouth, smothering it in velvety, warm liquid. She became undone. She heard, as if from somewhere else, his name escape her lips, knowing the sound would draw him even closer to her. "William," she pleaded.

William's movements hurried in desperation. His nostrils flared the steam of his passion into her ear. His mouth only loosened its grip on her earlobe to release a moan, followed by, "Oh, You feel so good." Julia's body twitched around him a few final times before they both lay together still enough to feel the pounding of their hearts announcing the completed love of their union.

Soon after, they put on their pajamas in anticipation of the waking of their children. Family tradition held that soon the footsteps of the little ones would be moving to their bedroom door. Brought up since before they could formulate sentences to knock and wait for permission to enter, the three children would soon be pouncing to join them in their bed.

The family opened the front door on that Thanksgiving Day (November 6th) to find that the predicted huge snowstorm had arrived. There was 8 inches of snow on the ground and more falling! Julia called the hotel where Ruby and Jasper were staying, the Windsor House (the same place in which they had leased a suite after they first married), to see if they had made it to Toronto despite the storm. They had. They weren't expected to show up until eleven o'clock, but it was good to know they had made it. Eloise and a friend of hers showed up around ten o'clock to start working to prepare the Thanksgiving feast that was planned for around 5 o'clock that evening. Ruby and Jasper met up at the hotel and shared a cab to the Murdoch home. They seemed to be enjoying each other's company, and both William and Julia wondered if they might not end up courting. The children were ecstatic to be engulfed in all the high quality adult attention, playing joyfully for a few hours before lunch.

After lunch, William and Jasper took the three children to the park to go sledding. In the park they found the highest hill. They only had two sleds so the children had to take turns. At first William and Jasper sat behind each child, steering the sled with their feet to teach them how to sled. They started about half way up the hill and gradually increased the height. It did not take long until the two older children, William Jr. who would be six next month, and Katie, who just tuned five last month, were able to sled solo. They both had learned how to ride the sled by either sitting or lying down on their stomachs. The youngest, Chelsea (three) could sled alone too, but only down a very short section at the bottom of the hill.

Up at the top of the hill there was a section of rock that formed a cliff about ten feet high. From the top of these rocks, you could see that the part of the hill off to the right side was steeper than the section they had been sledding on, and down at the bottom of this section of the hill there was a road. But, it looked like you could start your sled headed down this right-side section of the hill and then turn the sled to the left to connect with the section of the hill they had already been sledding on. The added height would give you more speed. William and Jasper tried it out first, then William took Katie for the ride and Jasper took William Jr. After instructing William Jr. and Katie how to proceed, they encouraged the two children to start from the higher point on their own. The children found the adventure addictive, running back up the hill to do it over and over again while wearing huge grins of glee.

Jasper pulled William aside to tell him about his newfound love for Ruby. They spoke while intermittently watching over the sledding children. Jasper said he thought he could move to NY and join the NYC Mounted Police. William asked if he thought Ruby felt the same way for him. Jasper said he thought so, "but that's the challenge with love isn't it – you never know for sure what the other is thinking."

William shook his head and replied, "In my case, half the time I didn't even know what I was thinking." The brothers shared a laugh, slightly at William's expense. William asked, "Do you want to have children?"

"Oh, yes, I definitely do … but I'll do whatever Ruby wants … That is if I'm lucky enough to have her." After a brief pause, Jasper continued, "I worry that a policeman will be too far below her station …" Jasper looked at William, his older brother who would know more about this particular concern that anyone else in the world.

William reached out and put his hand on Jasper's shoulder. He took a deep breath and said, "Ruby was my strongest ally in winning Julia. I don't think Ruby will have the slightest problem with your class differences. Believe me, it's probably more you that will. The male ego, and one's image in society, suffers a bit as you move up the socioeconomic ladder as a result of marrying a woman who is well-off. Be ready for teasing from your friends and harsh judgment from others." William turned his sights on William Jr. and Katie, currently at the bottom of the hill and preparing to go back up again, and added, "If you do have children it will be the most magnificent experience of your life, but also the most frightening. And you and your wife will probably have more conflicts about raising them than anything else – I know Julia and I do."

Jasper responded, "Well it seems wonderful to me." Then he challenged William to a sled race. Both men knew that they would be able to go faster if they ran to the starting line carrying the sled, diving down into the snow with the sled underneath them at the last moment. Jasper won and made sure to gloat about it.

William Jr. decided to try a similar thing, but didn't notify his adult companions of his plan. He left the sled at the top of the hill and then stepped back about 20 feet. From there, he ran full speed towards the sled, diving down onto it carrying his velocity. He ended up a bit un-centered on the sled as it accelerated down the hill. The added speed scared William Jr. He was afraid that if he turned left like he was supposed to then he would roll over, and at his current speed such a thought terrified him. He stayed straight and headed directly towards the road at the bottom of the hill.

William caught sight of William Jr.'s sled barreling for the road and took off at a mad dash to try to intercept him before he got down to the road, calling out, "Roll off the sled!" as he ran.

There was a carriage on the road and it looked like it was timed to hit William Jr. The carriage driver saw the sled headed for the road and made an effort to pull up the horse, but William Jr. ended up sliding between the front and back wheels of the carriage. The back wheel rolled over William Jr.'s wrist. The collision caused the boy to fall off of the sled, rolling to a halt about 10 feet later. William arrived almost immediately at his son's side. Except for his wrist, which looked broken, William Jr. appeared to be alright. The horse, driver, and carriage were not harmed. The driver of the carriage took all five of them, with their two sleds on the roof, to the hospital.

While they waited for the doctor to see William Jr., William explained to Jasper that he was concerned that Julia would be angry about the accident. They had had some serious conflicts in the past about his taking bigger chances with the children's safety than she liked. The doctor treated William Jr., putting a cast on his left wrist. William called Julia to tell her that there had been an accident and William Jr. broke his left wrist. Not to worry, everything else was fine. They would give her the details when they got home.

Back at the Murdoch home, Julia and Ruby had spent the afternoon together. Julia was becoming worried that William, Jasper, and the children weren't home yet, it was already 5 PM, before she got William's call. She was very relieved to finally hear the front door open. Katie came bursting into the parlor with Chelsea on her heels. "Mommy, William Jr. broke his arm!" Katie exclaimed.

"I know – your Daddy called me. How did it happen," Julia asked.

Katie excitedly said, "He sledded under a carriage!"

"What?!" Julia exclaimed.

William Jr. entered the room and hurried over to his mother. The boy fell into tears once he was wrapped in her arms. Julia squatted down to ask him what happened and if he was alright. Her son explained that he was sledding to fast to turn like he was supposed to and he sledded under a carriage and broken his arm. They had to go to the hospital to get it fixed up. It hurt a lot but otherwise he was alright.

Julia was furious that one of her children would have been put in such a situation where it was even possible that he could have sledded onto a road. She went to meet William as he and Jasper rounded the corner from the foyer into the parlor. "William, what were you thinking?" she demanded, still moving towards him even after he had halted. She stepped in close to him, her inflamed eyes gripping his, close enough that he could feel her angry breath in his face. He looked … worried. "I can't believe you would let him sled down into a road!" she declared, arms flaring at her sides. She continued, "For such a brilliant man you astound me when you make such stupid decisions! Really William, how could you be so … stupid?"

William made an attempt to defend himself, "The odds that he would end up on the road were very low …"

She placed her hands on her hips and said, "Obviously not, since that's where he ended up!"

William sounded stronger as he replied, "Julia, if they never take any risks, they're never going to get good at anything. They'll be doomed to live timid, boring lives."

"But at least they'll have lives, no!?" she stormed.

William opened his mouth to continue his defense, thinking that she encouraged the girls to go horseback riding which was just as dangerous, but he thought better of it and closed it again.

Julia continued, "Honestly William, how do you expect me to ever trust you with them ever again!?" Beginning to get choked up, Julia steamed, "He could have been killed!"

For a moment it looked like William's eyes were growing teary. He turned and grabbed his coat and went out the front door. A few moments later the sound of shoveling could be heard.

Julia then turned on Jasper, "And you too! What is it about males that makes them so dim-witted about safety!?"

Ruby called out, resting her hand on Julia's shoulder, "Julia … you're over-reacting."

Julia turned back to William Jr. and investigated the work done on his broken arm at the hospital. She tried to reassure him, "You know if we make sure you rest it and it heals properly, you will have an even stronger wrist then before you broke it."

Katie looked up at her mother and said, "But Mommy, it was so much fun to sled from the top of the hill."

Julia turned to focus her attention on the little girl, "You sledded down the same hill?" she asked.

"Yes Mommy, lots of times," she answered.

Julia clenched her jaw and her fists and marched out the front door to confront her husband with this shocking news.

"Katie too!" Julia fumed, planting herself in front of William, who was nearly finished shoveling the path. "I'm absolutely dumbfounded at your … She's barely 5 years old! You're parenting is completely … useless." She held her ground, shaking her head in shock and disapproval.

Feeling overwhelmed, William drove the shovel into a pile of snow and left. He needed to take a walk to cool off.

Everybody else soon sat down to Thanksgiving dinner in the dining room. The chair meant for William remained empty. Conversation was strained, but slowly the mood lightened. When Eloise was sending out their deserts, they all heard the front door. William Jr. pushed his chair back, preparing to run to his father, but Julia stopped him. "I'll go," she said.

Julia joined William in the foyer. She was still mad, but she apologized for publicly scolding him. William would not look her in the eye. Julia thought to herself that he looked to be feeling ashamed. She added, sounding a little softer, "You will need to apologize to your son." As they passed through the kitchen, Eloise asked William if he wanted her to prepare him a plate of dinner. He declined, saying, "No thanks, Eloise. I don't seem to have much of an appetite."

Ruby was the first to break the air of discomfort, "Jasper was telling us about the special training of the horses for the Canadian Mounted Drill Team …"

After dinner the group moved back into the parlor. Although William and Julia did not speak with each other, they both took part in the conversation. When it came time to tuck the children into bed, Ruby and Jasper made plans to care for the children the next day while William and Julia went to work. Then they said good-night and left together, planning on finding a club to attend for a nightcap before going back to their hotel. They seemed to be quite smitten with each other.

William and Julia managed to work together to get the children washed up, into their pajamas, and tucked into bed. After Julia had left to prepare for bed herself, William Jr. told his father he was sorry he didn't turn the sled. William reassured him that he didn't need to apologize – he hadn't done anything wrong. But he offered his son some advice for the future, "Son, when you are going too fast and you first feel your stomach kind of flip over with fear, act immediately, before things get even more out of control. As soon as you felt the fear start to take over you should have turned – even if you did roll over, you likely weren't going fast enough yet to get seriously hurt. Once you were going that fast and saw the danger of the road ahead, you should have rolled off of the sled. I'm sorry I didn't teach you guys what to do if you got in trouble. I should have." They hugged goodnight and William told him not to worry, the medicine his mother had given him would help him sleep without feeling too much pain.

As William entered their bedroom Julia came out of their bathroom, already wearing her nightgown. William undressed and put on his pajamas. While he was in the bathroom, Julia prepared his bedding for him to sleep on the couch. When William came out of the bathroom, he dropped his eyes to the bedding and said, "Julia, don't you think we should talk about it?"

"I'm too angry William. I think not," she responded. William sighed, collected the pillow and blankets and went down to the couch.

William was having trouble sleeping on the couch. At first, he kept replaying the image of chasing William Jr. down the hill onto the road. Eventually his thoughts drifted to thinking about what he would normally be doing with Julia if he were upstairs in bed with her now. Images from making love with her the night before on the kitchen table and then again in their bed, just this morning, kept running through his mind. He remembered the warm, soft feel of being inside of her. He could hear her aroused breathing in his ear, and feel and taste her earlobe in his mouth. William's breath caught as he remembered Julia's voice begging as she called out his name. Then, like a slap in the face, the sensuous moment would be interrupted by his memories of Julia reaming him, "Really William, how could you be so … stupid?" William rolled over, hoping that readjusting his pillow would take the hurtful thoughts away. He was growing more and more angry as the night progressed. It was not right for her to shame him and it was not right for them to coddle their children either.

Julia was also having trouble sleeping. She alternated between escalating anger as she imagined William Jr. on his sled going under a moving carriage, to building regret as she remembered the stunned, hurt look on William's face when she called him "stupid." Just thinking of calling him that caused her to cringe. After five or six rounds of this emotional roller-coaster, she actually felt tears fill her eyes when she thought of how harsh her words had been. She thought about getting out of bed and going down to him to apologize and show him how much she loved him – and respected him, but … she had to admit, she still didn't trust him – not with the children's safety. And until he was willing to admit that his decision was wrong, she wouldn't be able to trust him. Ultimately, she decided to stay in their lonely bed, holding out for William to give in and admit he behaved dangerously, and that he wouldn't do it again.

The next morning the children bounded into their parents' bedroom, the door wasn't closed like usual, and crawled into bed with their mother. The room was filled with hugs and kisses. William Jr. said he had slept well. Julia checked his cast and reassured him that it would heal soon. William Jr.'s voice revealed his concern as he asked, "Is Daddy sleeping downstairs?" All three of the children looked at Julia – they wanted to know if she was still mad.

"Yes, and I'm sure your Daddy wouldn't want to miss the fun of having his three children jump all over him to wake him up. Tell him 'Good Morning' for me too," she requested. The children rushed out of the room, thrilled to have such an important mission.

When William came into the bedroom she had already washed up and was starting to select her clothing for the day. She asked William if he wanted to talk.

"No, I don't think so Julia. Now I'm too mad," he explained. He gathered up some of his clothes and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Julia stared at the closed door. In the seven years they had lived in this house, she swore she'd never seen that door closed. By the time William came out of the bathroom, nearly dressed, Julia had riled herself up and was feeling angry at him all over again. Motivated by her anger, she had decided to wear William's favorite dress. He had told her it took nearly all of his self-control to keep from unbuttoning the pearly buttons running down the front. "Let him feel the pain of being denied what he wants," she thought. She asked William to help her with her corset. He did so in silence, showing no signs of being aroused by the usually intimate activity. Julia was sure he noticed her choice of outfit as his eyes seemed to stall on her as she put it on.

To be continued … (Hint: It gets worse for Jilliam before it gets better).


	2. Chapter 2

Power Struggles Chapter 2

Julia stared at the closed door. In the seven years they had lived in this house, she swore she'd never seen that door closed. By the time William came out of the bathroom, nearly dressed, Julia had riled herself up and was feeling angry at him all over again. Motivated by her anger, she had decided to wear William's favorite dress. He had told her it took nearly all of his self-control to keep from unbuttoning the pearly buttons running down the front. "Let him feel the pain of being denied what he wants," she thought. She asked William to help her with her corset. He did so in silence, showing no signs of being aroused by the usually intimate activity. Julia was sure he noticed her choice of outfit as his eyes seemed to stall on her as she put it on.

When they opened their bedroom door they could tell that Eloise was downstairs by the smell of bacon wafting up the stairs. Eloise had agreed to watch the children until their Aunt Ruby and Uncle Jasper arrived (the children's nanny, Claire-Marie had taken a few days off for the holiday).

William and Julia shared a cab to work. William told Julia that Jasper agreed to bring the children by later so that he could put a waterproof cover on William Jr.'s cast, allowing the boy to play lightly out in the snow without the cast getting wet. Annoyed, Julia stressed, "As a medical doctor, I must tell you William that he should not use his wrist much. He needs to rest it. It needs to remain still in order to heal properly."

William acquiesced, agreeing to send them to the book store to buy comics instead. He argued that there was still value in making the cover – it would help if it rained or snowed, and William Jr. could wear it when he took a bath.

As they were exiting the cab, Julia seemed unable to resist the chance to remind William that if he had been more responsible, they wouldn't need to worry about such things. The Inspector was just arriving at the stationhouse and overheard their fighting. He teased Murdoch, "Want a scotch yet me ole' mucker?" Seeing the degree of stress the younger man was in he added, "There will always be good days and bad days, Murdoch …. Remember, I've seen the good doctor naked too, I know there are definitely some reasons to make up, hey?" He gave the younger man a smack on the back and walked with him into the station.

William responded to a call claiming the exercise rider for Seagram Stable's "Inferno," the favorite to win the final race of the season at Woodbine Racetrack, did not show up for morning training and the man's landlord said it looked like foul play. At first, everyone at the track assumed the rider, Billy Tanger, missed training because of the snow, but the horse's groom insisted he would have come anyway. The evidence at Tanger's home consisted of blood stains in the bathroom and indications that his body had been dragged out of his bungalow across the yard and over a fence. William also found bottle of a frozen liquid outside in the snow near the fence. In the man's home, he found a journal that looked to be very old and well used. The entries were all in the same handwriting and didn't have dates. They seemed to record animal abuses. The first one involved a dog that had followed a boy home. The boy had been forced to kill the dog by his father so the family would not be tempted to feed the dog any of the few resources they had. He made the boy tie the dog down on his back and stab it through the heart Most of the other incidents involved horses. The most recent involved abuse of a mare by a blacksmith that was beaten with a red hot rasp (file).

Back at the morgue, Julia was nearly finished performing the second postmortem for Detective Dermott from stationhouse #5. The body had been brought in yesterday while she was out celebrating Thanksgiving. The victim had similar wounds to the blacksmith (Dermott's first victim), but this man's identification indicated that he was an exercise rider. He had died earlier than the body brought in the day before Thanksgiving.

Higgins came into the morgue with the bottle of liquid Detective Murdoch had found at the missing man's home, now unfrozen. He said that Detective Murdoch wanted her to analyze it. " _He expects me to drop everything for him_ ," she thought. Julia replied, curtly, "Tell Detective Murdoch that I do not work only for him and I won't be able to test it until later this afternoon."

When Higgins brought the bottle back, William found it hard not to take Julia's rejection personally. He tried to tell himself that she probably really was too busy and her refusal to run the tests had nothing to do with her anger at him. He decided to go over to the morgue and do the analysis himself.

William entered the morgue to find another body in the theater and Julia at her desk writing up the report. He thought, " _She really is busy_." "Doctor," he asked, making an effort to sound as professional as he could, "I see you are very busy, is it alright if I test the liquid myself?" Julia agreed and helped him gather the correct supplies, including a reference book, he needed. He settled down at the seat by the shelves in the theater and started testing the pH of the liquid. He found it to be only slightly acidic…

Detective Dermott arrived for the results of his second victim's post mortem. The two detectives acknowledged each other. Julia brought the nearly finished report down into the theater and stood with Dermott next to the body. Dermott complimented Julia's beautiful dress, staring down at her breasts. He let out a little whistle and then winked at her.

William cleared his throat and caught Dermott's eye with a threatening look.

Julia informed Dermott of the findings, time of death, etc. She stressed that the weapon and method of stabbing seemed similar for both of his victim's. Pointing at the corpse's chest she said, "The angle of the wound suggests the murderer was short but quite strong." Julia turned to stand directly in front of Dermott. She then lifted her right arm above her head, pretending to hold the weapon. Her eyes focused squarely on Dermott's chest, she pretended to drive the weapon into his left pectoral muscle, making contact with his chest and leaving her hand to rest there. Julia then used her left hand to trace across his chest the path made under the skin by the weapon, diagonally down through the heart. She left both of her hands on his chest and lifted her eyes to meet his. She said, "Of course, detective, you are so tall that the difference between our heights and the difference between the heights of the victim and murderer are relatively the same." Still keeping her hands on him, she continued, "I'd say the murderer was about 5'1" at most."

Dermott reached out and placed his hand on Julia's hair, lightly stroking her ear with his thumb, and said, "So he would be about this much shorter than the victim?"

"Yes," Julia responded, rubbing her hands over his chest before taking them away.

William watched the scene. His ears were ringing and his mind felt nearly blank, but hot. His jaw clenched and his fingers curled up into fists. He imagined storming over to them, shoving them apart and punching Dermott in the nose. Almost at the exact same time he pictured grabbing Julia by her shoulders and shaking her – aggressively. William saw the morgue door in his mind's eye. He wanted out and he wanted out now! Planning on avoiding directly passing them, he took the longer way towards the door.

Julia noticed William heading for the door and immediately went to block him by going the other way. "Don't you dare leave that mess!" she warned. Julia ended up in between William and the morgue door. She could see the degree of upset William was in. Fear and regret pulsed through her. She quickly apologized, "William, I'm sorry. It was a mistake."

William refused to look at her. "Move out of the way," he said, jaw gritted tight. Julia let her fuming husband pass. He pushed so hard on door that for first time she could remember, she heard it hit the outside wall. She felt herself pulled outward behind him as if the wind tunnel of William's wake were dragging her along after him.

Detective Dermott stood very close behind Julia, wrapping his arms around her waist he said, "Let him go," as he leaned down to attempt to kiss her. Julia spun around to face him, pushing back against him, trying to break free of his grasp. He tightened his grip and said, "So the rumors of your paradise love are not true after all. You're looking for something better than your _odd_ husband." He leaned down to her once again, attempting to kiss her mouth. "I'd be glad to fill in," he leered.

Julia forcefully pushed him away. She yelled, "Back off Dermott … I was only trying to make William jealous." She realized that she had led the man on and apologized to him, working to sound as professional as possible she said, "I'm sorry. That was very unprofessional of me … and inconsiderate of you. You have every right be angry at me, but William really is the only man for me." Dermott was clearly angry. He shoved her to the floor.

Julia felt the sting of her elbow hitting the ground so hard. She lifted herself back up to stand once again and reasoned, "Detective Dermott, please calm down … There are still more findings you need." Having already released some of his anger with the shove, he took a deep breath and walked back to the body to await the rest of her report.

Uncle Jasper and Aunt Ruby showed up with the children at Murdoch's office. Higgins excitedly greeted them all. William put the water-proof cover on William Jr.'s cast. Then he sent them to a book store instead of to the park to play. He made sure to give Julia credit for being a good doctor and a good mother by reminding him of the importance of William Jr. resting his wrist so it can heal.

Back in the morgue, Julia speculated that there may never have been a time in her life that she regretted something as much as she regretted flirting with Detective Dermott in front of William – Perhaps leaving him to go to Buffalo. She knew she had to figure out what drove her to do such a terrible thing. She felt mad at William, and helpless to protect their children from what she felt was his extreme risk-taking. Anger did seem to drive her choices to wear this particular dress today and to come-on to Detective Dermott in order to make William jealous. " _But, what is causing such anger_?" she thought. She knew it had to do with the helplessness. It felt to her like there were similarities with this situation and when she left for Buffalo. In that instance she also felt helpless – in that case of being able to keep William's love. Julia knew she hadn't gotten to the core of this new problem yet, but she decided to complete the analysis of the liquid evidence William had been working on. It would allow her an excuse to see him.

William must have spilled some of the liquid when he stormed out – when Julia lifted the bottle some of the fluid got on her fingers. The moment she touched it she could taste garlic in her mouth. She used this clue and the reference book she had left for William to determine that the chemical was dimethyl-sulfoxide (DMSO). The drug was made as a by-product of cutting wood in saw mills. The book said that it is sometimes used on horses. Julia called Mrs. Lily Adeline Livingston, a wealthy American who recently moved to Ontario and was stirring up the horse-racing circuit. She was referred to a veterinarian, Dr. Robert Carter, who informed Julia that DMSO is used for inflammation in horses. He added that some trainers also use it to get around the anti-drugging rules because of its transdermal drug delivery capabilities – it can carry illegal substances into the blood stream through the skin.

Julia brought the results of the drug analysis to William. She knocked on his office door, waiting to be invited in. He looked up, avoiding looking at her eyes, and then quickly looked back down at the papers on his desk. A few moments passed. It seemed his plan was going to be to ignore her. She was not going to let that happen.

"I tested your liquid, detective. I must say, what I found is quite intriguing," she offered. He continued to ignore her, so she entered on her own accord, hanging her coat on the rack as she passed it. She placed the bottle down in front of him on his desk. "William … touch the liquid around the top of the bottle," she said, knowing that the unusual request would spark his curiosity.

William sighed. He pressed his finger to the lid. A look of surprise came over his face. He said, "You can taste it instantly!" For the briefest moment, he looked at her.

She felt her heart warm and flip as he did so – his expression so much like that of an excited little boy, full of discovery and wonder. She loved when he had that look. But it died away so quickly, her heart sinking as her regret flowed in to replace the joy. William returned his gaze to his papers.

Julia proceeded to tell William everything about the DMSO. She knew he was listening, although he never gave away a sign that he was doing so. When she was done William said, "I'll go question people at Woodbine (the track where the missing exercise rider worked) he said, holding his gaze away from her.

He rose and began to put on his coat. Julia hurriedly grabbed her coat and once again blocked his exit and apologized. Eyes still fixed beyond her, William said, "I'm furious with you, Julia. I don't want to talk to you – I don't even want to look at you. You need to get out of my way." Tears welled up in her eyes and she stepped aside. William abruptly stepped out.

Murdoch learned that the trainer of another horse that the missing man exercised had a reputation for lacing DMSO with cocaine and other illegal drugs and then administering it epidermally (through the skin) to his horses before their races. He considered whether the Billy Tanger's journal of animal abuses would include such an entry. He would have to check when he got back to the station. He also discovered that this trainer was the missing man's father, Peter Tanger. Peter Tanger was currently in the hospital as the result of an explosion in his home last night.

Also, there was a rivalry between Billy Tanger and another exercise rider, Stephen Billings (Murdoch believed this may be the name of Detective Dermott's second victim), fueled by the alleged affair between Billings' wife and Billy Tanger. Actually, the deeper he dug, the more apparent it became that the racing world was very cut-throat, with fierce competition between riders as well as between trainers. Questions about animal abuse were met with defensiveness, but it seemed obvious that such abuses were common. All in all, Murdoch left the racetrack with a bad taste in his mouth.

Back in his office later, William sat at the work table reading the Tanger's journal and filling out a chart. Higgins had found some newspaper articles and Humane Society reports that described cases of animal abuses that matched some of the journal entries.

Julia let herself in and closed his office doors. Higgins, out in the bull pen, noticed. William had glanced her way, but returned his attention to his work. She hung up her coat and walked over to pull a stool up close to him and took a seat. She leaned her face over in front of him, trying to draw him to listen to her. "William, please let me apologize to you," she said, quietly.

William still refused to look at her, but he did decide to speak. He said, "In the past, Julia, I have become jealous because one man or another made a pass at you. But I have never known you to come-on to another man… It's even worse because you were trying to hurt me – admiring things about him with your flirtations that you know I lack, like being tall. I don't understand why you would do that." William paused and after a sigh continued, "I know you're mad – you think I took too big of a risk with the children – but this is too much." He turned on his stool as if he were preparing to get up and said, "One of the best things in my life has always been being able to see myself in your eyes … but now all I see when I look there is a stupid, short, untrustworthy man. I really don't care to look there anymore." William got up and walked over to get his coat.

"William, don't go … I'll leave. It's your office," she said, rushing to the coat rack to try to grab her coat first. With her coat over her arm she moved to stand in front of him, blocking the door. "I'll leave, William," she repeated, dropping her eyes to the ground and turning to leave. Julia turned back to face him once more, "William, please just give me chance to explain … I really think it will help … us."

Inspector Brackenreid answered a phone call in his office. Then he called Higgins in. He asked, "Higgins, what do you think is going on with the detective and the doctor?"

Higgins leaned in closer to the Inspector, both of them keeping their eyes pinned on the couple in the detective's office, "They seem to be arguing sir. It's been going on all day. I think Dr. Ogden is trying to apologize to Detective Murdoch, sir."

"That's very interesting, bug-a-lugs," the Inspector replied, "First thing this morning I saw that it was the doctor who was mad at the detective. I wonder what he did to get her to be apologizing to him. Maybe there really is something to this "modern marriage" they seem to have," he speculated. They watched a bit longer as the couple went back to sit down and continue their discussion. The Inspector said, "That was a call about a body. Both of them will be needed to go to the scene. Let's give them a few minutes to work out their problems. They'll work better if they aren't in the middle of a fight."

Julia thought she saw the slightest glimmer of hope in William's eyes before he turned to go back and sit on his stool. She re-hung her coat on the rack. Julia coached herself, " _Trust in the deepest truths you can find._ " She returned to the stool next to William.

His eyes were once again down on the victim's journal and the chart he was making. After what he had said about seeing himself in her eyes, she knew she wanted him to see her sincerity – she was about to take a risk and reveal more of herself than her instincts felt was wise. Julia took a chance and decided to touch him. She reached out, gently placing her fingers under his chin and turning him to face her. " _Oh my God he is so handsome_ ," she noticed, surprising herself with the thought. She heard herself take a deep breath, like one does before they plunge into a cold lake. She began, "Upon reflection, William, I found that my bad decisions, and I acknowledge that they were very harmful, were driven by my feelings of helplessness. Now, what is the opposite of helplessness? – control, power and control, William – that's what I think this is all about."

She was glad to see she still held his eyes. Julia continued, "You know, all relationships involve a distribution of power – you have more power than Higgins, but you have less than the Inspector. We are always negotiating the relative distribution of our power with others. Traditional marriage gives the man much more power than the woman – but if you think of Margaret and the Inspector for instance, you'll see there are ways for the woman to gain an advantage. Fortunately, we have agreed that our marriage will be based on equality … something I truly appreciate about you William. She paused, organizing her thoughts. You and I have power struggles about certain issues, like how to spend our money and … I'm sorry, William, I'm rambling… Um …" Julia shifted on her stool.

She looked down at her hands, catching her wedding rings in her focus. "" _The deepest truth, Julia_ ," she reminded herself, " _He deserves to know_." When she picked her gaze back up to meet him, she found that he was leaning in much closer to her. "When I saw William Jr. in a cast, I expected you to feel guilty about it. Subconsciously I thought I could use this to my advantage to gain power over you – to have more control over how safely you behave with our children. Ever since the tree-climbing incident I have wanted to stop you from taking such risks with them."

William nodded.

Julia went on, "I must admit I was totally surprised that you did not seem to feel guilty, that you even argued that your decision to let them sled down a hill with a road at the bottom of it was reasonable. I felt completely helpless in protecting our children from such decisions in the future. It was that helplessness that made me angry. Then I turned to shaming you, hoping it would disarm you. Only when I saw you the next morning, and you said that you were angry with me, did I realize it didn't work."

She turned away from him, feeling the shame of what she was about to reveal rising up. Tears were forming, and she felt the accompanying lump in her throat as well. William leaned even more towards her.

From the Inspector's office, the Inspector and Higgins were still watching Murdoch and Dr. Ogden. The Inspector said, "It looks like Murdoch might fall off his chair. I wonder what she's saying that so has his interest?" he queried.

Higgins worried, "Don't you think I should interrupt them about the body, sir?"

"It can wait, Higgins. The body isn't going anywhere. Is the carriage outside?" he replied.

"I'm sure it is by now, sir," he answered, "Do you want me to go tell the driver to wait a bit longer?"

The Inspector agreed.

Julia dug down deep to find the courage – and trust, to face him. She pushed herself to say, "I wanted to gain the upper hand over you, William … And I turned to something I believed was my strong suit – sex." She paused, looking for his reaction.

William said, "I've always thought we were pretty equal when it came to sex. I mean, it seems to me that each one of us seems to desire the other with the same degree of passion. And that each one of us … um … satisfies the other equally well."

Julia sniffed and wiped away a tear. She was no longer crying. "Really William," she said with confidence, "Don't you see that men are so easy when it comes to sex? I mean they're aroused or they're not … They've had an orgasm or they haven't. Honestly William, you wake up in the morning with an erection. Sex is the first thing on your mind."

William blushed a little.

Julia sighed, signaling a shift in the conversation, "Whether I was right or not, I thought I could gain power over you by making you desire me sexually and then withholding myself from you. I thought you would give me what I wanted because you wanted me. That's why I chose to wear this dress (Julia leaned back and signaled with her hands towards her bosom – William's eyes drifted down briefly to take in the sight of her well-lifted breasts pressing for their freedom against the delicate pearly-buttoned restraints) and that's why I flirted with Detective Dermott – to gain power over you." Julia started to cry once more, her forehead wrinkled up and her eyes became pink and pooled with liquid. She swallowed and said, "It was so greedy of me to want more control over the raising of our children than you. It was selfish … and wrong. And hurting you didn't make me feel powerful, it just made me feel awful…" Julia's crying escalated, bordering on sobbing. "William, please forgive me," she pleaded. She wiped her nose with the back of her wrist. Her eyes held his, boldly revealing to him her shame and desperation.

William reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his handkerchief from above his heart, which he felt had opened. She took it gratefully and turned away to blow her nose and wipe her tears. William stood up and wrapped his arm around her waist to pull Julia off of her stool and close to him. She tucked her arms under his and wrapped them around his waist, hugging him tight, and she cried on his shoulder. William cradled her head with his other hand, lightly caressing her ear through her curls. His touch communicated the care and forgiveness she longed for and caused her weeping to surge stronger as the feelings of relief washed over her. He gave her the softest of kisses in her ear.

The Inspector left his office to meet Higgins as he came back into the station after informing the driver to wait. "You can go interrupt Murdoch and the doctor now. They seem through," he said, tilting his head towards Murdoch's office.

Higgins knocked and then opened the door. "Sir … Doctor, You're both needed," he said. Julia went to pull away but William held her a little tighter so she stayed. Without turning, William responded, "We'll just be a minute constable." Higgins left, pulling the door closed behind him.

William's voice reassured her as he said in her ear, the tone of his voice pervading deep into her soul, "That did help." And then he rocked her just a bit. A few moments later she pulled back, wiped her eyes, and they put on their coats and headed together to share the carriage ride to the crime scene.

Higgins and William waited in the carriage while Julia got her medical bag in the morgue. The carriage that would bring the body back had already left for the racetrack where the body – said to be Billy Tanger had been found. When Julia joined them she looked well-recovered from her crying. She sat next to William and across from Higgins. William knew he was feeling better because his mind kept being distracted by the desire to touch her, hold her, kiss her… " _Maybe she was right that women hold most of the power in sexual matters_ ," he thought.

The ride was long. The track was not technically even within the district of stationhouse #4, rather it was under Stationhouse #5, Detective Dermott's jurisdiction, but Tanger was now considered Murdoch's case. Higgins broke the long silence, "So, how was your Thanksgiving?"

William and Julia shared a look. William answered, the discomfort detectable in his voice, "It was memorable."

"Oh yes, that's right. I saw William Jr. had a cast," the constable said.

William wrinkled up the corners of his mouth and said, "Yes, a very unfortunate accident."

Julia changed the subject, "You know, I've been thinking about the case … Do you think it is connected with … (Julia suddenly found it hard to say Dermott's name, knowing it would likely stir up unpleasant feelings in William. She pushed herself to move forward) … Detective Dermott's cases. I mean all three men are connected with horses and work at Woodbine."

William reacted to the bringing up of Dermott's name, but it was just a quick twitch.

Julia continued, "If Tanger was stabbed in the same manner …"

William interrupted, "Julia, I did hear you describe how Dermott's victims were killed … There was not enough blood in his bungalow to account for that… I guess he could have been killed elsewhere, if it ends up being a similar stabbing." He held the glance with her longer than would be expected, finding himself once again distracted by thoughts of kissing her. She noticed and responded by reaching up and stroking his cheek. He leaned closer to her and whispered in her ear, "I must admit you were right – My desire for you overpowers me." They pulled back and shared a look – sparks of love twinkling in their eyes. Higgins made no effort to avert his stare.

When they arrived at the scene, they were accompanied to the manure pile, which was largely still under the snow. This was fortunate because they had to walk out to the body – a good twenty feet into the pile and the snow largely kept their shoes clean. Inferno's groom found the body, well technically his dog did. A horse blanket had been placed over the body, catching the snow. The groom had pulled back an edge of the blanket to expose Tanger's face.

William removed the blanket, commenting that, "The snow on the blanket indicates the body was placed here before the snowstorm finished yesterday – I think that was around 2 PM."

Tanger's body was laid out much like it would be if in a casket – on the back, legs together and hands together over the stomach. The only clothing seemed to be his pants. There was some dried blood coming from the nose.

Julia said, "Placing the body here certainly seems to be making a statement about what the murderer thought of Tanger."

Julia squatted down next to the body, noticing a red rash on the chest and neck. William joined her on the opposite side of the body. On closer inspection, under the Adam's apple on the neck there was a layer of what looked like a solidified liquid that had pooled in the indentation.

William took off his glove and reached out to touch the substance, " _I wonder if that's DMSO_ ," he thought, " _If so, a touch will produce a taste_."

Julia quickly reached across the body to stop him, "William don't! It may have something else dissolved in it … Remember DMSO can be used to carry substances through the skin. It may even be how he was killed. I see no other obvious means – no bullet or stab wounds and no clear injury to the head either. Just this nosebleed..." she said. Julia opened her medical bag, withdrew an empty vial and a swab, and collected a sample of the substance.

William noticed that the body, particularly the mouth, exuded a strange smell. It reminded him of the smell of the saw mills he worked in when he worked at the logging camps. Julia pointed out that such a smell likely indicated the presence of DMSO because it is a byproduct of processing wood. In his pants' pocket, William found a necklace. " _Perhaps this is related to Billings' wife somehow,_ " he thought to himself, " _but would other riders, like Billings know how to use DMSO – if that even is how Tanger was killed_."

"Julia," William asked, "What was the name of the exercise rider who was the victim in Dermott's case?"

"Stephen Billings," she replied, "Why?"

He rubbed his forehead (Julia knew this to indicate he was stressed) and said, "Billy Tanger was said to be having an affair with Stephen Billings' wife … I found this necklace in Tanger's pocket…" William wrinkled up the left side of his face as if to say, "maybe?" "I'll need to interview her," he decided.

"Can I take the body?" Julia asked as she stood from her squatted position.

William also stood up and indicated that he wanted her to wait a moment. He addressed Higgins, "Higgins, head back over to the stables and get the names of anyone who was working here on Thanksgiving. We'll need to question them. Based on the snow on the blanket, the body was placed here sometime between Wednesday night after dark and Thanksgiving morning, probably before 9 AM.

After Higgins left, William looked around to see if Julia's assistants were close enough to overhear. He stepped around the body to join Julia and said he didn't want her to go. He gave her a gentle kiss. Although it was soft, it held so much promise. Julia felt her body respond.

"I don't want to go either, but the sooner I finish this postmortem, the sooner I can go home – hopefully you won't be too late…" she said.

"Hopefully," he replied, sounding a bit pessimistic. "Well, I'll stop by to get your preliminary findings after I question the possible witnesses Higgins gathers up here. I'll have him bring Billings' wife to the station for questioning," he said. Then William gave her another, more passionate kiss and turned to head up to the stables.

Julia motioned to her assistants to come take the body, instructing them, "Make sure to keep your gloves on and avoid touching or removing the frozen liquid on his neck."

Back at the station, William placed a dozen snow-white roses into a brown expanding file folder, taking care to keep them from being crushed or broken. He had plans for leaving them for Julia later this evening, but needed a way to hide them from view when he first entered the house. He found his mind wandering back to the time that he placed a bottle of absinthe from a case in a similar folder. Of course, the flashes of memory went back even further to when he was, for the first time in his life, lying on top of Julia, kissing her passionately. He had already known he was in love with her. He was so elated to _know_ she had similar feelings for him. He remembered her telling him that without protection, they would have to abstain – but that there would be other chances for them. William laughed to himself upon recognizing that she was right, but oh, how much longer it would be until those chances arose, and my, how many more times in their lifetimes they would act upon those chances.

He moved to the blackboard and began to record and organize the evidence from the case. No one at the track had seen anything out of the ordinary, so William wrote that the likely time the body was left in the manure pile at Woodbine was after 10 PM Wednesday night – the last time anyone would have been there to see it. During his interview of Billings' wife he discovered she was battered by her husband. She had explained that Billy Tanger was furious when she returned his necklace and broke off their relationship, fearing retribution to herself and Billy if she did not. So, he wrote that Hannah Billings had provided a motive for Tanger to have killed Billings – but it could also have been Billings who killed Tanger – it all hinged on the time of death.

William headed over to the morgue. He greeted Julia in the typical professional way he used when he was there to discuss a case, "Good afternoon doctor. Have you any initial results of Tanger's postmortem?" However, he was clearly looking around to see if they were alone. It appeared that there was nobody else but the two of them in the morgue.

Julia responded with a similar greeting, "Yes detective, I have." She had reason to believe the cause of death was an overdose of cocaine due to the contraction of the vessels in the heart and the nosebleed. The substance on the body's neck did test positive for both DMSO and cocaine, suggesting the murderer laced the DMSO with a deadly amount of cocaine and poured it on Tanger's skin. She was currently running tests on Tanger's urine to look for the presence of dimethyl sulfide and dimethyl sulfone, both of which result from the body's metabolism of DMSO (dimethyl sulfoxide). Also, the presence of halitosis (severe bad breath) indicated the presence of DMSO in the body because both of these metabolic by-products are also removed through pulmonary excretion – through the lungs.

William asked about the crucial time of death. Julia informed him that the body being exposed to the freezing temperatures made it difficult to be certain, but based on both rigor and temperature he likely died between 6 PM and 10 PM on Wednesday night.

William asked, "Julia, what was the time of death for Stephen Billings?"

"He died earlier, most likely early Wednesday morning," she answered. William could see the wheels in her mind turning. She asked, "William, do you think Tanger killed Billings? … And if so, then he probably also killed the victim in Dermott's first case as well! Tanger was the right height and he certainly was strong enough too."

William nodded.

"Oh my, William! You've just solved both of his cases for him!" Julia exclaimed.

William sighed, "Yes it seems so. I guess I'll have to call him … To be honest Julia, I'm not looking forward to talking with him … after …"

Julia interrupted him, "Yes, of course. I'm so sorry to have put you in that position."

William wrinkled up the left side of his face and added, "I've never really liked him very much. This certainly didn't help."

"I think you should know that I apologized to him for using him to make you jealous," Julia said, forcing herself to look William in the eye. "He seemed alright when he left here, but he clearly was angry with me right after you left … and I rejected his advances."

"He shouldn't have made advances, Julia – even if you did first. And I remember him eying you up and whistling and winking before you … placed your hands on him. He behaved inappropriately. I will need to deal with him – and I guess informing him about solving his cases will force me to do so sooner rather than later," he reasoned. William seemed agitated again.

Julia knew she should probably tell William about Dermott shoving her to the ground, but she didn't want to rile him up even more. Further, William's re-aroused anger worried her – perhaps he was mad at her again. Perhaps the issue was not resolved as she had hoped. "William, are you …" she started to ask but hesitated as fear crept up in her belly. She walked towards him, encouraging herself to trust that the forgiveness and understanding she felt with him earlier were true. She stopped in front of him and made sure she had his attention. She sighed and continued, "I'm worried that you are angry with me again …" she finally blurted out.

William responded by fondling one of her wayward curls. "I'm mad at Dermott Julia, not you. Your actions with him this morning are behind us. You've explained why you behaved the way you did and you've repaired the damage," he said. He tilted his head in preparation to kiss her.

Julia brought her lips to his. At that moment the morgue door opened and Richard, one of Julia's assistants, came in. The couple reluctantly pulled apart. Richard dropped his eyes to the floor and said, "We should have the results of the urinalysis now doctor."

Keeping her eyes glued to William's, Julia thanked Richard for minding the time and asked him to gather the results. She whispered, "Until later, Mr. Murdoch," in William's ear and he left.


	3. Chapter 3

**Julia knew she should probably tell William about Dermott shoving her to the ground, but she didn't want to rile him up even more. Further, William's re-aroused anger worried her – perhaps he was mad at her again. Perhaps the issue was not resolved as she had hoped. "William, are you …" she started to ask but hesitated as fear crept up in her belly. She walked towards him, encouraging herself to trust that the forgiveness and understanding she felt with him earlier were true. She stopped in front of him and made sure she had his attention. She sighed and continued, "I'm worried that you are angry with me again …" she finally blurted out.**

 **William responded by fondling one of her wayward curls. "I'm mad at Dermott Julia, not you. Your actions with him this morning are behind us. You've explained why you behaved the way you did and you've repaired the damage," he said. He tilted his head in preparation to kiss her.**

 **Julia brought her lips to his. At that moment the morgue door opened and Richard, one of Julia's assistants, came in. The couple reluctantly pulled apart. Richard dropped his eyes to the floor and said, "We should have the results of the urinalysis now doctor."**

 **Keeping her eyes glued to William's, Julia thanked Richard for minding the time and asked him to gather the results. She whispered, "Until later, Mr. Murdoch …"** and then placed her lips near his ear, "You won't be sleeping on the couch tonight, my love."

"Good," he said and with that **, William turned and left.** She watched him as he walked away, letting her mind imagine making love with him later in the evening. She felt her heart, and other, lower organs, flutter with anticipation as she remembered that William's lovemaking was particularly rough and forceful after he had been jealous. He was already showing signs of straining to keep control over his lustful desires for her. She was aware of a twinge of fear, for there had never been a time before this that his jealousy had been spurred on by actions of _hers_. She pushed the fear away with thoughts of her strong trust and faith in William and his sincere love for her.

Back in Murdoch's office, William was once again staring at his blackboard. His main suspect, Billings, could not have killed Billy Tanger because it turns out that Tanger actually likely killed Billings. As Tanger also killed Detective Dermott's blacksmith, he now figured he needed to learn more about their relationship. Perhaps someone killed Tanger in retaliation for his killing of either of the other two men. " _Billings' wife?"_ William thought, " _I just don't think so, if anything she would have been relieved of her husband's death and likely pleased to be able to return to Tanger's arms_."

William began to pace. His eye caught Tanger's journal, " _The last entry was about a blacksmith – didn't Julia tell Detective Dermott that the blacksmith died after Billings? Could the entry before the one about the abusive blacksmith be related to Billings – another exercise rider_?" William wondered as he picked up the journal to look up the second to last entry. The entry described a rider who abused a horse while mounted by reaching forward and repeatedly hitting the horse in the right eye while wearing brass knuckles. The rider did this because the horse had a bad habit of trying to run back to the stable through an open gate on the right side of the track. The horse ended up blinded. William knew now that the entries in the journal were connected to two of the murders Tanger had committed, but he did not know if Tanger's killings were the motive for someone to kill him. " _Perhaps Tanger killed many more people_ ," William thought, feeling the excitement of getting somewhere. He examined the chart he had made based on animal abuse records. He called for Higgins, requesting that he determine if any of the abusers were murdered and if so by which means. His best chance for finding a motive seemed to be linked to the journal entries.

Fifteen minutes later, Higgins reported that at least two people with aligned journal entries and documented abuses had been killed – cause of death in both cases was stabbing. William was excited to have his suspicions confirmed, but unfortunately it now appeared that the potential number of people that could have a reason to kill Tanger had increased exponentially. The detective took a seat at his desk, sighed, and started rubbing his forehead. He was really stressed – and he hadn't even dealt with Detective Dermott yet. Deciding the conversation he needed to have with Dermott was best done in person, William grabbed his coat and hat and took a carriage over to stationhouse #5.

Julia was preparing to write up the postmortem report on Tanger. She found herself alone in the morgue, having sent her assistants home early to make up for their staying late the day before Thanksgiving. " _Some music would be nice_ ," she thought, picking a record to play that she hadn't heard for a long time. She was well through writing the report when the song "Amazing Grace" began to play. Julia laughed to herself as she recognized the power of the sub-conscious. One of her favorite memories was associated with this song and she was quite sure that this was why she had chosen this record. She stopped writing and stared out into the glass between her desk and the morgue theater, allowing the beautiful memory to play through her mind once more:

(Their son, William Jr. was only about 2 months old. The fact that the boy existed at all was truly amazing. They had tried to use protection to avoid pregnancy because Julia's abortion had damaged her cervix and she wouldn't survive childbirth. Risking her life, they had chosen to continue the pregnancy, planning on delivering the baby using a transverse Cesarean section. A huge snowstorm had trapped them in their house when she went into labor. She had taught William how to perform the surgery and he had used her medical tools to deliver their son. Julia's recovery from the surgery took 6 weeks. Julia and the baby had only been home from the hospital for about 2 weeks.) After another night of breastfeeding the baby every 3-4 hours, Julia woke up in the morning to find herself alone in the bed. She put on her robe and headed downstairs, noticing the smell of bacon wafting through the air. As she reached the bottom of the stairs her senses were overwhelmed by the sound of William singing to their son – He was singing "Amazing Grace" and he was singing it very well. She leaned her shoulder against the kitchen doorway and watched, and listened, soaking in the beautiful scene. She may never have been as happy as she was at that moment. William was holding the tiny baby, whose head rested against William's right ear, in one arm while he tended to the cooking bacon with his other. He wore only his pajama bottoms and the baby wore only a diaper. She knew the feeling of their bare skin and could imagine the exquisite feelings each would have from the contact with the other. She imagined the vibrations in William's chest as his vocal chords sang each note and kindled the infant's chest. William was slowly rocking with the rhythm of the song and softly rubbing his ear and cheek against the baby's head.

The boy began to fuss. William turned away from the stove and lifted him up, holding him out at arms' length in front of him and said, "Fussing? Fussing babies get belly blows – you know this." And then William brought the baby's belly to his face and blew into his belly to produce the most delightful sound of baby laughter. Placing the infant back against his chest with his right arm and turning back to the stove, he said, "I bet you're hungry. If I were going to have as magnificent of a breakfast as you are going to have I would fuss about waiting too. Your Mommy sure does taste good"

Julia cleared her throat, drawing William's attention, and walked up behind them, "Good morning," she said. Julia wrapped her arms around William's waist from behind and rested her lips into the left side of his neck to flutter kisses up into his ear. As she turned him to face her, she reached over to turn off the stove. Once she had his gorgeous eyes focused on hers, she reached up and rubbed his muscular chest and said, "I believe _**you**_ are about to have a magnificent breakfast, husband." Then she whispered in his ear, "I want to make love." William and Julia kissed passionately before going upstairs, placing the baby in his cradle near their bed, and making love for the first time in many, many months.

Julia's sigh announced her return to her surroundings in the morgue. " _William really is a wonderful father. I need to trust him more,_ " she thought. She dropped her eyes to her report. Noticing that the last song on the record had finished, she set it to replay once more and got back to work.

William greeted the constable behind the desk at stationhouse #5. He asked if he could see Detective Dermott and the constable gestured towards the man's office. When Dermott looked up from his desk and saw William he stood up quickly and said, "Now Murdoch, you know she deserved it. You'd have done the same thing if …"

The hair on the back of William's neck stood up! " _She deserved what_!?" he thought. He glared at Dermott and said, "You'd best explain yourself, Dermott."

Dermott lifted his arm towards a chair, suggesting William sit and stuttered through his explanation, "Well, as you know, your wife was being quite a tease this morning, leading me on and then pushing me away. Now that was a lousy thing to do."

William remained standing and glaring. "And you believed that gave you the right to …" Murdoch led Dermott, lifting an eyebrow.

"To give her a little shove … Yes, I do think she deserved it and I think you would do the same thing if a woman did that to you," he said, moving closer to Murdoch, trying to intimidate him with his superior height.

William responded to the physical threat by stepping even closer to Dermott. "You misjudge me. Only cowards overpower women with their strength. Now, right now, as of this moment, you will never look at, talk to, or even think of my wife as anything other than a colleague to you. You will be no more likely to wink at her, or stare at any part of her body, or say anything lewd to her, than you would to me or any other man you work with. If I ever hear that you have behaved inappropriately with her again I will deal with you as if you had done such a thing to me! Do you understand!?" William intimidated, eyes still glaring, hands rolled into fists.

Dermott wanted to save face, but he did feel put in his place by Murdoch. "Sure, sure, Murdoch. She's your wife. I get it," he said as he waved his hand like it was no big deal and it was a done thing. Dermott turned back towards his desk. As he sat back down in his chair he asked, "Is there anything else detective?"

Suddenly William realized that he also had to tell Dermott about solving his cases. He took a deep breath in an effort to switch gears to a more professional tone and said, "Actually, yes there is. I believe I have found the man who murdered both the blacksmith and the exercise rider from Woodbine."

"Most interesting, Murdoch. Do tell," the other detective said. Murdoch filled him in on the details. He expressed his relief that Murdoch had found the killer because his investigation seemed to be going nowhere. He had considered the wife as a suspect, but she had a good alibi. During Dermott's investigation he had not come across Billy Tanger, but the exercise rider, Billings, had worked for his father, Peter Tanger.

William decided to stop by the morgue to see Julia before he returned to the stationhouse. She was working at her desk. He greeted her and laid his coat and hat down on a corner table. Julia invited him to pull up a chair, as she was working on his report on Tanger. He sat to her right.

Julia rested her chin in her left hand and turned towards William and asked, "Do you remember that we were sitting just like this at the very moment that I fell in love with you?"

"I do," William said with a slight nod, "I believe you had come to realize that I was 'perfect' for you after I helped you through working on the postmortem of Orville after you killed him."

"Yes," she replied as she reached out to caress his cheek. Julia sighed and asked, "Do you want an update on the report?"

William nodded.

She directed her eyes to the report on her desk and said, "Well, Tanger had some blood on his pants. I tested it and the blood was human…"

"Likely Billings' blood," William concluded.

Julia continued, "The only other relevant thing may be his enlarged liver, suggesting he drank or abused drugs."

"Good," William said. He reached over to push against the back of Julia's rotating chair and turned it to bring her more directly in front of him. He said, "I went to see Dermott over at stationhouse #5."

"Oh," Julia replied, conveying such a large amount of both concern and passion in just one little word.

William took a deep breath and continued, "I told him to make sure that from now on he treats you like a professional colleague, like he would treat me or any other man. I made it clear that there would be serious consequences if I ever heard that he behaved inappropriately with you ever again. He agreed to behave in a respectable manner with you." William shifted in his chair. "Julia, I want you to tell me if he ever treats you inappropriately," he said as he increased the intensity of their eye contact – almost like an order. She nodded. Then he asked, "Speaking of which, Dermott told me he shoved you after I left this morning. Why didn't you tell me?"

Looking a little uncomfortable, Julia responded, "I was ashamed, William… And I guess a part of me felt like I deserved it after I had treated him so badly."

William shook his head, "Julia, it's never alright for a man who has four times your strength to physically assault you, no matter how badly you treated him." William paused and then asked, "How hard was this shove anyway?"

A worried look came over Julia's face. She knew this would make William mad. She looked away, but then forced herself to look back and said, "He knocked me to the ground William."

Immediately the red color from his increased blood flow could be seen across William's face. He dropped his eyes down to his hands. They were curled into fists. Slowly he opened his left hand and reached over with his right to twist and fiddle with his wedding ring. He was trying to calm down. Finally he said, still not looking at Julia, "I guess it's a good thing that I didn't know that when I spoke with Dermott earlier. I think I would have punched him in the nose… And the Chief Inspector is much more likely to reprimand a Catholic detective than a Protestant one." William lifted his eyes to meet Julia's.

The look on her face caught him – She was gazing at him like a woman who was madly in love. She reached out and stroked his jacket lapels. Moving her face closer to his she said, "You are so gallant." William wrinkled up the corner of his mouth, showing his doubt. Julia asked, "You don't think you're gallant? … William, you are the most gallant man I've ever known. … You really are a perfect match for me. I was right all those years ago – You have a magnificent mind, that's essential for me. And William, your heart," she shook her head almost in disbelief, "It, um, …You amaze me with your efforts to always do the right thing. You have such a _**good**_ heart William… And your loyalty astounds me, of course your loyalty to me, but also to others like the Inspector and the men." Her face lit up with excitement, "You know, I was planning on conducting an experiment, or more of a demonstration, to show you something." She stood and reached out her hand, "Come."

Julia led William down into the morgue theater and over to her blackboard. She erased an area and picked up a piece of chalk. She drew a stick figure and then another one next to it as she explained, "I know this from being with Darcy. He was 6'0" tall…"

William's discomfort with the topic was obvious. "Julia, I think we should leave that wound alone. There's not anything to be done about it," he explained, sounding defeated.

"I disagree, William. Actually, I think that, if my hypothesis is right – and I'm confident that it is, you shouldn't actually have bad feelings about your height at all," Julia reasoned. William gestured towards the blackboard, trusting her as he invited her to continue. With her back to him she continued creating her diagram. She drew representations of William, next to him she drew her, then Darcy, and finally Dermott. While she was drawing, William stepped in close behind her and entertained himself by touching and kissing his beautiful wife. His actions were quite distracting for Julia, but she pushed on and completed her task. When she was finished, she reached back and placed her hand to his cheek and stepped out of his arms, ceasing his amorous attentions, and said, "Darling, I'm ready to explain."

William's mind had become all swirly and foggy from touching, smelling, and kissing her and he was working hard to bring himself back into the situation. Julia waited. Once he looked at the diagram she began, "William, you are 5'8" tall," she said pointing at the first stick figure. She continued, "This is slightly above average height for men – as a coroner I know these statistics." Pointing at the next stick figure – it had a skirt, she went on, "I'm quite a bit taller than average – 5'7" tall. This here is Darcy. He was 6'0" tall. And the last one is Dermott – he's about 6'1" tall." She turned to face him and then said, "Now the experiment," and they walked over to the stairs that went up to her office. "If you stand on the bottom step and I stay here on the floor, you will be about the same amount taller than me that Dermott is," she instructed.

William took a step up to stand on the bottom step, leaving Julia looking up at him. She said, softly, "Kiss me."

He had to lean down to kiss her. Julia slid her arms up around his neck and ran her fingers through the hair on the back of his head. He wrapped his arms around her, but rather than being around her waist or on her hips as usual, they found her ribs. Julia broke off the kiss and asked for an evaluation. William said it was quite nice. "How about on a scale of 1-10?" she asked. He gave it a 5 or a 6.

"Now, step down here with me," Julia said while lightly pulling him down to her using his tie.

It was obvious from the moment he placed his feet in front of hers that their physical connection on this level was powerful. Their eyes aligned, sparkling and dilating in response to the close presence of the other as intimacy enveloped them. Julia let go of William's tie, standing with only a millimeter of air between them, she said, barely above a whisper, "Kiss me." All it took was a tilt of the head and to close that millimeter of space to initiate the kiss. It was soft, lasting only two or three seconds. They separated ever so slightly and each could hear the other inhale – they would need the oxygen. The dam burst open the moment their lips touched again, passion flowed wildly into them sending their bodies into ripples of intense motion. Heads twisted, dragging lips and tongues with them. Arms and hands swam – pressing and squeezing. Breathing rates and heart rates exploded. And inside their heads gravity spun and flipped, dizziness leading to the weakening of some muscles – like those in the knees, while increasing blood-flow led to the intense tightening of others.

Back in the recesses of Julia's mind she was aware that the rating for this kiss was going to be very high, and thus support her hypothesis that William's height was perfect. She heard her own inner voice say, " _Pull back. Ask him… This will convince him he wouldn't want to be any taller …_ " but, like a magnet that had gotten too close to another, the force holding them together felt impossible to overcome. She felt William's fingers touch the top, ball-shaped, pearly-white button on her dress – " _Oh yes, I forgot_ ," she thought as she felt her insides dropping down at the beginning of a new, and phenomenally huge, flip, " _This is the dress that tortures his self-control_." (That was when it happened. Once again her beautiful husband had seen the world through the eyes of his innovative and unique mind. He had found a possibility, a way to use the matter and the forces in the world to his advantage, something most would not even notice. But it was mostly the element of surprise that so affected her).

His hands took her by the waist. And then she felt her head swing back, making it swirl and swim – she felt her whole body sink and float. Only when she felt her feet touch the step did she realize that he had lifted her into the air, spun her around, and placed her on the step _above_ him. She opened her eyes to see William below her, his dark eyes full of burning desire. His gaze was drawn to her bosom heaving directly in front of his gaze. Her bosom blossomed in anticipation of his touch, pressing even more firmly against the delicate buttons. His look stole her breath. If it weren't for the fact that her arms were still around his neck, the light-headedness would have floored her. " _No, he's not going to_ …" she thought, feeling his fingers wrap around the top button, twist it and release some of the tension of the garment against her body as it popped open. Immediately, his hot breath flowed down into the remaining cavern within the dress. She saw his head moving into her, causing her to feel as if she was falling further still. It took every ounce of strength she had to remain standing. He sandwiched her between one of his arms behind her back, pressing her forward towards him, and his hungry ministrations in front of her, pushing her backwards. His soft lips, his whole mouth opened wide and taking her in, his teeth raking across her supple, usually-cloistered skin, wiggled, writhed and teased her nearly to ecstasy.

The next button … "Oh," escaped from her lips and lingered in the air around them – suggesting that something had happened to time as well. One by one William liberated her from each button. Inch by inch he devoured her, driving both of them wild.

William pulled away, turning to eye the morgue slab behind them. The look of shear desperation in his eyes stunned her. " _He's looking for a place to_ …" she thought. His eyes found the glass window between her desk and the morgue theater, decision taking over the tone and contours of his face. "William, we can't…" Julia said frantically, "someone could walk in!"

William turned his gaze to her, "You were right about having more sexual power than me – I am unable to resist you," he said with a raspy voice that seemed to lure her very soul to him.

" _Nor I you_ ," she thought, having lost the ability to speak. Her mind rushed ahead to place them up at her desk – clothes flying off, eager bodies clutching for strongholds to use to pull each closer to the other – making passionate love. The fantasy coiled her insides tighter and tighter building the tension, urgently demanding a release.

He took her by the hand – led her up the stairs. Turned her back to the desk. Reached around her to remove the report from the desktop and drop it to the floor. Lifted her skirts, which she held up for him, and grasped the waistband on her bloomers. Pulling them down, he continued the clothing's descent – catching and dragging her garters, then her stockings. Firmly gripping her waist, he lifted her up and settled her on the surface of the desk. Then he reached down to slide the rest of the unwanted clothing down her left calf, pulling the shoe off with them, and leaving the bundle to dangle and partially settle on the floor below her right foot.

Julia seemed dazed as she watched him move on to removing his own clothing – unbuttoning his vest and removing his jacket, vest, and suspenders all at once from his left shoulder and then the right – finally flinging the no-longer valued garments to the ground. His eyes burned into hers as he reached for the buttons of his trousers. As they made love, the waves of passion tormented Julia beyond her ability to survive it. She begged for him to completely fill her, "Please … William … Oh, please," her voice pleaded.

Although she could not see it, William smiled against her hot, damp neck before he told her, "Right now Julia, I feel very powerful."

"You are William…" she whispered into his ear, "You really, really are." Their lovemaking brought her right to the edge of irreversible ecstasy. Her moan of pleasure announced that the actual tilt of gravity had arrived and she was falling, this time slowly, into the pleasurable abyss.

Only moments later William rushed to catch her, to fill her with his lustrous love, as he caught up to her in irrevocable delight.

Stillness swallowed them, highlighting the loud pounding of their hearts. Only the drifting in of the awareness that they were vulnerable, that intrusion from Higgins, or someone else, was distinctly possible, rendered them willing to separate. They quickly fluttered about, gathering their clothes and re-wrapping themselves in their distinct identities.

Julia noticed that she had gotten chalk dust on William's tie and in many places on his jacket. She got a damp cloth and tenderly brushed off the white powder, returning the material to its crisp, clean state. While William watched her tend to him she explained, "It is only natural to care for the appearance of one you love."

The words stuck in his mind – caught on something that had bothered him. William's eyes focused and he tilted his head to the side. Julia knew this look. She waited while his mind imagined and read the connections between all the relevant factors that would explain what had happened in their latest case. In his mind's eye William saw the killer placing Tanger's body in _respectful position_ in the manure pile. "The killer cared for Tanger," he said, still seeming to hold the trance. He imagined the journal – the first entry in which the father forced the son to stab a dog – "The first journal entry – it was Tanger, and it was his father that made him kill the dog," William said, turning his eyes now to Julia. "I've been blind, Julia. Of course it's the father. I couldn't allow myself to suspect him – believing parental love to be so strong that a father would not kill his son," he said.

"But doesn't Peter Tanger have an alibi?" Julia asked, "Wasn't he in the hospital – after an explosion?"

Her words seemed to be unheard. William was once again responding to the thoughts in his quick mind. He stared off and tilted his head, listening to his thoughts. He imagined Peter Tanger mixing the DMSO and cocaine, then entering Billy's bungalow after Billy had killed Billings to find him covered in blood and cleaning the blood off of his hands –creating blood stains throughout the scene. The father approached Billy from behind, and when Billy turned to face him he poured the cocaine-laced DMSO on Billy's neck and chest. Billy tried to rinse the toxic liquid off, but his father held him away from sink until eventually Billy fell to the floor and writhed in pain, suffering a heart attack. Peter Tanger dragged the body out of the bungalow, dropping the original bottle of DMSO in the snow where it quickly froze. He took the body to the manure pile under cover of darkness in the snowstorm. Billy's shirt was covered in blood. His father couldn't leave him like that. He removed the shirt to leave his son's body bare-chested. He brought the body's legs together, folded the hands across the chest, and tended to the chill by covering the body with a horse blanket. Just before leaving, Peter Tanger buried the shirt in the manure pile.

Julia knew William was back when he turned to her and said, "Julia, I have to check the manure pile. I believe we will find Billy Tanger's blood-soaked shirt buried there."

Julia was still bothered about the timing, "But William, I think he has an alibi?!"

William made an effort to slow down his thoughts – perhaps she was right. He figured, "You said Billy Tanger died between 6 PM and 10 PM on Wednesday evening and the last person to leave the stables at Woodbine left around 10 PM… Peter Tanger was brought to the hospital after the explosion at 11:30 PM…"

Julia's face lit up. She had a thought, " _Where is that reference book about the DMSO?_ "

William continued, following her as she went to the bookcase, "If Peter Tanger got to the track shortly after 10 PM and finished disposing of the body in fifteen or twenty minutes …"

Finding the part she had remembered, Julia jumped up, drawing William's attention, "William, it says here that DMSO is quite volatile. It has a high boiling point, 189 °C, quite a bit higher than water. At such high temperatures it decomposes, possibly leading to an explosion … Could there have been DMSO on the shirt, not just Billings' blood?"

"And if Peter Tanger wanted to dispose of the shirt to hide his son's murder, he might have brought it back to his home to burn it!" William exclaimed, his eyes bright with the excitement of the hunt – he knew they had something here. "That's what caused the explosion! Julia, you are amazing!" he proclaimed lifting her up and giving her a little spin.

As he placed her back on the ground she insisted, " _We_ are amazing, William. We really are quite a good team. Always have been."

William asked Julia to accompany him to the hospital to interrogate the father. Her expertise in psychological matters would likely be invaluable. He was right – Julia's ability to demonstrate empathy with the man helped Peter Tanger relieve his conscience of its burden. He confessed to committing the murder of his son and admitted that his son had murdered countless others throughout the years.

On the carriage ride back, William was very quiet. Julia reached up and softly cupped his cheek with her hand, turning him to face her, "What is it William – you seem … sad."

"No, just contemplative," he said, thanking her by bringing his hand to her cheek as well.

"What about?" she asked.

William sighed. After a pause he shared, "Fatherhood… Peter Tanger abused his son… forced him to kill a dog. Made him into what he was – a damaged killer. He feels regret – for his son's killing of others. And I think he feels regret for hurting his son... He was faced with an awful dilemma, could he let his son go on killing? He had to kill him to stop him."

Julia knew there was more – this was more personal than William had accepted yet. She waited.

Gently turning away from their contact, William looked forward, then down at his hands in his lap. Following another deep sigh, he reflected, "My father was neglectful and careless. If fathers make their sons into what they were, perhaps I am destined to be a neglectful and careless father… Maybe I was careless to allow William Jr. to sled down that hill."

Pain stung at Julia's heart to see him suffer – to suffer the memories of having been neglected by his father, and now the fear that he was hurting his own son, his own children, in the same way. She shook her head, this was complicated – For was it not she herself that had accused him of being these things? And yet she knew in her heart that he was anything but neglectful, or even careless. She had never known a man who was as wonderful of a father as William was to their children. She had to make sure he saw it too. Once again she let her fingers caress his face to bring his gaze, his beautiful eyes, to hers, "No, William, no. You are not careless. Before you let them sled down that hill you calculated. You clearly cared for them William. I know I have added to your distress in this matter, but the reason I disagreed with your decision was not because I thought you were careless or neglecting their needs, but because I think that you so passionately care about them, William … and the quality of their lives, and that, to you, this means letting them take risks. We do the same math William. We come up with the same result for the degree of risk – but we differ on whether the resulting degree of risk is acceptable or not... I think even a one percent chance that they could die is too high –You think a ten percent chance is alright… You were just unlucky when the ten percent chance happened… Honestly William, I have never known a better father than you." William wrapped his arms around her and hugged her. His sigh letting her know that he believed her.

Back at the station, the couple stood before the Inspector, filling him in on the nuances of the cases they had solved that day. "Three cases in one day, detective, doctor … Is that a record?" he asked.

William and Julia shared a look, both shrugging because they weren't sure – no particular day came to mind, but somehow they wouldn't have been surprised if there had been a day when more than three had been solved.

The Inspector interrupted their shared thoughts, "Of course, for stationhouse #4 it only counts as solving one murder … too bad it ends up helping stationhouse #5's stats more than ours."

"Well sir, I feel it is good for our reputation either way," Murdoch argued.

The Inspector reached up and gave Murdoch a slap on the back, "Agreed. Well done."

The Inspector watched as William and Julia planned the rest of their evening, Julia explaining that she would be finished with the postmortem very soon and head home, while William figured it would take over an hour for him to write up his report. "If I'm lucky, I should be home when Eloise is bringing out desert," he guessed. They shared quick kiss and Julia left.

"So, me ole' mucker, things seem all fixed up with the good doctor and you," the Inspector speculated.

"Murdoch blushed some, and said, "Yes sir."

"No sleeping on the couch tonight, hey …" Brakenreid teased.

For the briefest of moments William thought, "How does he know I had to sl …" before he realized the Inspector had made an educated guess based on his own experiences. William blushed and replied, "No, not tonight sir."

His response was greeted with a hearty slap on the back and, "Good to hear it Murdoch. Keep up the good work."

Arriving home, William organized his packages before he opened the door. He had the brown expandable folder holding Julia's roses for later and the shopping bag with the little gifts for the children he had purchased earlier at the racetrack – they were half-priced because the track was soon closing for the season.

The rest of the family, including Aunt Ruby and Uncle Jasper were finishing dinner in the dining room. All three of the children sat upright at the sound of the front door opening. Looking at Julia William Jr. asked, "Mom, can we go?" Julia agreed and they bolted out, heading for their father in the foyer. Julia followed at a slower pace. She watched as they smothered William in hugs and kisses. He had a shopping bag from the racetrack in his hands that the children quickly noticed (fortunately he had already hidden the brown expandable folder behind the coat rack). Explaining that he knew each of them loved horses, he couldn't resist the sale they had going on at Woodbine while he was there on a case. William Jr. got a statue of the famous horse Inferno and Katie got a boxed set of toy stables, horses, and equipment. They asked if they could bring the gifts back with them to the table to show Aunt Ruby and Uncle Jasper and ran off after their request was approved. William crouched down in front of three-year old Chelsea and pulled out a stuffed animal of Inferno. The child's eyes lit up. She hugged the toy to her chest and then dove into her Daddy's arms.

William gave the little girl a kiss and said, "I think Aunt Ruby and Uncle Jasper would like to meet him …" and with that Chelsea ran into the dining room to show off the precious gift.

From his crouched position William lifted his eyes to catch those of his wife. Eyes glued to hers he stood. Time seemed to pause as they gazed at each other. So much had happened in one day, even more in the past two. The love passing between them felt eternal, unstoppable. Julia approached him, stopping within his grasp. He reached out and swiftly pulled her the rest of the way to him. They kissed with an urgency and hunger that surprised both of them. Heads quickly losing connection to anything other than the other, William lifted her up and spun her to the right to bump her back up against the wall in the foyer. He devoured her face with his mouth, her body with his hands. She moaned and dropped, finding her knees feeling weak. Somehow she found the strength to push him away and stop his pleasantly insistent advances. "William … They're waiting for us …" she said, voice weak from being love-struck.

Everyone remained at the table talking while William ate his dinner. During the conversation William drew Jasper's attention and privately asked him to stay after the children were tucked in so that he could take Julia out – He was going to take her sledding. Jasper agreed. Later in the parlor, everyone was enjoying the stories and playing with the children in the parlor. William stole away to bring the white roses up into the bedroom and tucked them out of sight under the bed.

Once the children were put to bed, William told Julia that Jasper and Ruby were staying so that they could go out for a walk on this beautiful moonlit night. She was tired, but agreed upon his insistence. Up in their bedroom, he instructed her to remove her dress, corset, and stockings. He wanted her to wear a pair of his trousers and a sweater. She responded to his odd request by raising an eyebrow at him, but complying. When she tried to put on his trousers she was surprised to find that she couldn't fit them around her hips. William was also surprised, but commented that he believed her curvaceous hips were gorgeous and very sexy. He suggested she try his pajama bottoms instead, as the drawstring could be loosened to get over her hips but then pulled tight around her small waist. Julia shook her head in disbelief at his request, but once again complied.

They headed downstairs to put their coats on. William asked Julia to let Jasper and Ruby know they were leaving now, he forgot something upstairs and he would join her in a minute. He placed the roses and the note on her pillow. Julia was relieved to realize that probably no one would notice her unconventional clothing under her long coat, and it was probably too late in the evening to run into many people anyway. Once they were outside, William collected one of the sleds and Julia said, "William, if this outing is meant to get me to change my mind about the safety of sledding down that hill in the park I really don't think it's going to work."

William stood his ground in front of her, the fog from his breath surrounding them as he argued, "Julia, I went along with your experiment earlier, I think the least you could do is go along with my mine. Besides, you can't really pass judgment without seeing for yourself." He offered her his arm, which she took.

They strolled off towards the park, Julia asking William what he had thought of her experiment any way, already knowing that he had loved it.

Arriving at the bottom of the hill, on the side from which the road cannot be seen, William asked Julia if she had experience sledding. She said it had been many, many years, but that she used to be quite good. As they climbed towards the top of the hill, William stopped at the half-way point to explain that they had started by having Jasper sit behind one child while he sat behind the other child and sledded down from this point. Eventually the children were sledding on their own from here – first sitting on the sled, then lying on it. Even Chelsea had sledded solo from this point. It was obvious by the slope of the hill that there would not have been much speed involved. They had slowly built up to a higher and higher point on the hill until they got to the top. From there William led Julia around the rock cliffs at the top of this side of the hill to bring her to the point at the very top of the hill. From there the road could be seen when looking down the right side of the hill. The road was very far away, and the land flattened out quite a bit at the bottom.

William placed the sled on the snow-covered ground at the top of the hill. It was aimed in the direction of the road. He described the plan – they would turn the sled to the left at first, bringing it down onto the original side of the hill that they had walked up. He invited Julia to sit on the sled and then sat behind her. "It is important that all of our clothing is tucked in tightly so that nothing can get dragged under the sled," William explained.

Getting ready to go, William adjusted his position to press his body up as tightly as possible to Julia's and said, "Now, before we push off, let's establish who is in control. I know this is an issue, but I think it's best for me to be in control right now – Do you agree to relinquish control, Julia?" Julia agreed.

William reached down and with a few strong strokes against the snow, they were off! A scream of glee escaped Julia's lips as gravity played its magic, creating wind in their faces and the sensation that their stomachs were being lifted up into their chests. Reaching the bottom, the sled slowed to a halt. Happiness surrounded them. William offered her a hand up. The kisses were cold and sweet.

"Now let's try it lying down!" William said, taking her hand and hurrying her back up to the top of the hill. With Julia under him, they flew even faster down the hill. The kissing at the bottom of the hill was much more romantic now. They had rolled off of the sled into the cold, soft snow. William rested his arm under Julia's head to keep it out of the cold. Their bodies burned as they shared the passion that had been building between them. Julia broke off the kissing to tell him how happy and in love she felt.

"There's one more thing you must do, Julia … Now try it solo," William requested.

As Julia reached the bottom of the hill, with William running at top speed down the hill behind her, she exclaimed, "Oh William! That was magnificent. Little Katie did that?! … I see why she loved sledding and was so proud of herself."

"So you see how taking risks helps them feel confident and self-assured?" he pushed further.

"I do," she agreed. "But what went wrong with William Jr.?" she asked.

Shifting his eyes to the top of the hill, William took a deep breath and explained that William Jr. had tried to imitate what he saw Jasper and himself do earlier to increase their speed – run with the sled and dive down when the hill started – but the boy wasn't big enough to carry the sled, so he placed it at the edge of the hill and then ran to jump on it. "He didn't tell us he was going to do that," William said. "He was unbalanced and too scared to turn the sled and he didn't know to roll off of the sled before it got to the road," he explained.

"I see," Julia said.

William couldn't tell if she still thought he had taken an unreasonable risk. He sighed as he worked to build up the courage to ask her.

She looked deeply into his eyes and said, "I would not have let the children do it, William … but it is much less dangerous than I had imagined." It was enough of a compromise to give him a feeling of relief. He picked up the sled and wrapped his arm around her for a soft hug.

On the walk home they came to an agreement that some degree of risk was worth it and that they would work together, Julia pushing for less danger while William pushed for more, to create the right balance of risk for their children. It was clear that working together they would make the best possible lives for their children – They made a good team.

When they got back to the house, their suspicions that Ruby and Jasper would take advantage of being alone for romance were confirmed as they heard the efforts of the couple to redress while they took off their coats in the foyer. After thanking their siblings and saying goodnight, William and Julia headed upstairs.

Seeing Julia in front of him on the stairs, William felt himself becoming aroused thinking of her luscious body brushing against the fabric he himself was so familiar with. At the top of the stairs, he stopped her and said, "You know Mrs. Murdoch, I do quite like the look of you in my pajamas."

"That's very interesting William," she responded, "I quite like the look of _you_ in your pajama bottoms as well."

Before Julia could flick on the bedroom light, William closed the door behind them and took her into his arms and passionately kissed her. In the darkness they hurriedly undressed each other and made their way to the bed. They made love.

Lying together in the afterglow, William reached over and lit the candle on his side of the bed. As the warm light flickered across the room, Julia caught a glimpse of the snow-white roses over on her pillow. "William, they're beautiful," she said. She surrounded her face with the soft petals, letting the fragrance fill her senses. She gave him a seductive glance as she opened the note:

" _ **I continue to endeavor to please you, as I never feel more powerful than when I do so."**_

His sentiments brought to light the strength of his love for her. She felt flooded by it. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tight. "William you are truly wonderful. I love them … and I love you. I am so happy," she said as the vibrations of her voice washed over him, filling him with contentment. "I'm going to put them in a vase. I'll be right back," she said before hopping off of the bed, putting on her robe and dashing downstairs with the roses.

William went into the bathroom to brush his teeth and get ready for sleep. When he emerged from the bathroom he stopped in his tracks at the sight of his voluptuous wife, back turned to him, lustrous skin glowing in the candlelight, leaning over as she closed his lowest dresser drawer. She was wearing a fresh pair of his pajama bottoms – and nothing else. Pangs of desire took him so quickly, he felt the need to remind himself to breathe so he would not die right then and there.

He was behind her by the time she stood upright. The contact was rough and demanding – breath hot and hurried. He reached around her and squeezed her hips, her thighs – hard. His hand pressed her shoulder back into him as his mouth sucked and bit her neck. Julia's moan was deep and long and desperate. It drove him wild. He wanted her …

The drawstring pulled tight around her waist before it released and the pajamas were pushed over her hips and slid to the ground. One of his hands pressed firmly into her belly, pinching and demanding, the other one reached down to knead the inside of her thigh and pull her naked bottom strongly against him. He leaned over to pull the chair away from Julia's vanity table and placed it in front of her. She was confused, " _What does he want with the chair,"_ she thought.

His voice echoed in her head, "Get down on your knees," he commanded, as he pushed her down onto her knees next to the side of the chair. She felt William behind her on his knees as well. He bent her body forward over the chair, so that her belly was pressed down into the seat and her curvy bottom dangled irresistibly in front of him enticing him, driving him to rush. His hands strongly rummaged her buttocks, hips, and thighs – pressing with such force that they would likely leave marks in the flesh.

She arched her back, already feeling her insides tighten and writhe with desire for him. "William …" she called out. Then he took the back of her shoulder in his teeth and he made passionate love to her.

Total exhaustion overtook them as they stayed draped over the seat of the chair waiting for recovery. William's heart hammered into Julia's back, his heavy breath pummeling her ear. Julia's ribcage pressed up into William's chest with a quick cadence that slowed while its intensity remained. Eventually he stood up and carried her to the bed.

She rested her head on his chest, listening as his heart-rate returned to normal. He spoke, his voice vibrating to create a slight tingle in her ear, "Julia, you must be careful in your choice of attire – clearly some garments render me powerless in maintaining my self-control… I um … I end up overpowering you."

"Overpowering me William! You think you overpowered me? … Think William, did I ever put up any resistance to you?" she said, lifting her head off of his chest to catch his eyes in the dim candlelight.

"Well … no," he answered.

"You didn't overpower me William. You had your way with me … and I hope you could tell that I loved it. Really William, making love with you is wonderful. I have to admit that I was wrong when I said women … I, have more power than you in sexual matters. It ends up being you that brings me to my knees begging for you, no?" she asked.

He raised an eyebrow and wrinkled his face to show his questioning of her premise. "I remember feeling fairly desperate in my need for you too," he said.

"Well then, let's agree that in sexual matters, as in all others it seems, we work together as a team, balancing the power to craft the best final outcome, hmm?" she reasoned.

"Good," he said. William pulled himself up on his elbow and blew out the candle. Julia slid over to rest her head on her pillow as the darkness crept in from the edges and enveloped the room. "William," she called, reaching out and pulling him over to her. She felt his head settle next to hers on her pillow. Slowly her eyes adjusted to the dark and she came to see the contours of his face in the dark.

He took a deep breath and then said, "You can still smell the roses – so sweet." She ducked her head down in the space in front of his neck, savoring his smell as it lingered with that of the roses. They wrapped themselves around each other and slept together, wallowing in the fatigue of having loved each other to the very end of their capacity.

 _Author's note: The heights of the characters in this story were based on the statistics of average heights in the 1900s. The real actors that play these characters are taller than the numbers given here, but are relatively the same heights compared to today's averages._


End file.
